Chapter 25 Place Names and Cultural Heritage (Kerfoot, 2015, Watt, 2015)
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Section 9 Cultural aspects indigenous, minority and regional language names. In and attitudinal aspects of human life at a former point of 2012, this working group was changed to a working time. group for the issue of geographical names as cultural Cultural heritage is the cultural legacy of past Chapter 25 Place Names and Cultural heritage (Kerfoot, 2015, Watt, 2015). Contributions to generations. This can include tangible products of Heritage in an Archipelagic Country the discussion of culture in UNGEGN are to be found in heritage such as built structures, tools and fabricated various documents resulting from the ten UNGEGN items. It can also include intangible heritage such as Conferences from 1967 to 2012 and other publications folklore, oral history, traditions, language, and Multamia RMT Lauder and Allan F Lauder including Kadmon (2000), UNGEGN (2006) and Helleland indigenous knowledge. Natural heritage, meanwhile (2006). The field of toponymy has experienced a major refers to works of nature with cultural value, with which transformation over the course of the last 20 years. A 25.1 Introduction humans interact meaningfully. Cultural heritage is a variety of new thematic concerns have been explored, product of human action or cognition which is thought and there is now a far greater recognition that worthy of preservation for the benefit of others and of This chapter looks at the issue of the relationship toponymical research should be firmly grounded in an future generations. between toponymy and cultural heritage in the context explicit engagement with critical theories of space, The rationale behind the idea that cultural heritage has of an Asian archipelagic nation. The chapter is divided place, and landscape (Rose-Redwood et al., 2010: 458). value and is worth preserving is based in the idea that into two parts. Culture covers a wide range of phenomena. In cultural previous generations have produced ideas, knowledge, Part one describes key features of cultural heritage and anthropology two aspects of culture are distinguished. traditions, artifacts and built structures that have value The first is ways of thinking, ideas and values. The the links with toponymical studies and also provides for us as cultural achievements. Heritage helps us to second is behaviors, practices and skills (Eller, 2016: 21, geographical, historical, linguistic and cultural learn from the past by appreciating the development of Haviland et al., 2011: 27). The ‘classic’ qualities of information on insular Southeast Asia with a focus on civilization, of science, of technology and of literature Indonesia. There we find a high level of diversity in terms culture are that it is learned, not innate; it is a set of norms shared by a community or group; it is a system and the arts. Heritage preservation is about of language, culture and ideology. This has affected the we use to structure the world and give meaning to it; its remembering, understanding and admiring. Three development and use of toponyms in the country. parts function together as an integrated whole; it helps reasons have been put forward for the link between Part two gives a description of a number of place names. us to adapt to the world and thrive; it is in a state of geographical names and a nation’s cultural heritage. These examples represent place names for natural constant change (Nanda and Warms, 2012). Culture can First, geographical names provide information about features, man-made features and administrative also be defined in terms of its mobility, its ability to natural and cultural conditions at the time they were features. They all can be seen to possess cultural move into new geographical or social spaces; is coined and thus represent a memory of places, and this heritage status in some way. Different types of data are produced through human cognition and action in can act as historical documentation. Second, they are specific locations. needed to properly understand their meaning. part of the local language and history. Third, they Place names are names that reflect language-users’ represent a link between communities and their 25.2 Background perception of and relation with their environment. Place environment (Helleland, 2006: 121). names are ‘cultural artifacts’ produced by complex The study of cultural heritage is highly multi-disciplinary. Cultural Heritage and Toponymy interactions between mind, culture and environment Dealing with tangible cultural heritage, such as the Interest in the relationship between cultural heritage (Taylor, 2016: 70). Most place names also have a discovery and preservation of cultural artefacts, and toponymy has grown in UNGEGN since its historical dimension. They were coined at some time in buildings and sites is the business of archaeology, establishment in 1960. In 2002, a working group was the past and reflect the geographical, cultural, cognitive history, heritage management, and heritage tourism. established to address the promotion and use of Intangible cultural heritage, such as oral traditions and 25-1 endangered indigenous languages, can be studied by form of the many languages spoken today. As many as centuries, resulted in complex layers of different analyzing inscriptions or written historical sources. 719 languages have been attested in Indonesia and cultures. The result was often hybrid, recognizable but Natural heritage meanwhile is studied in geography, about two thirds of all of these share a common unique. In addition, it led to the blurring of cultural and ecology, geo-diversity and eco-tourism. Cultural heritage ancestral language and belong to the Austronesian geographic boundaries. also involves the study of law with respect to the language family, the remainder being part of the Papuan With the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century, the establishment and enforcement of rights, and of conflict language family (Lauder and Lauder, 2015). existing shipping networks decreased in importance as studies and criminology for the illegal trading and the Portuguese and Dutch took over the trading routes, destruction of cultural heritage. The history of East and Southeast Asia shows that monopolizing the profits from the sale of spices and people were travelling by sea for exploration, for trade other products to Europe. As a result, the previously UNESCO has played an important role in the definition of and diplomacy as far back as the Greco-Roman period prosperous coastal towns become impoverished and the what cultural heritage is and how it should be preserved. when spices and other goods were shipped as far as the Indonesians lost their memory of being sea-going people The 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of present day Middle East. The different routes were part (Tanudirjo, 2006). From the 17th until the 20th century the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICHC) has been seen as of the Sea Spice Route or Maritime Silk Road which the influence of the Dutch - first as trading company, a significant departure from previous conventions as the existed in parallel with the Silk Road. The early later as colonial power, increased. During their intangible aspects of cultural heritage are given Indonesians were engaged in trade and were part of the hegemony, the upper echelons of society were schooled precedence over its physical manifestations such as maritime spice trade routes that linked China, Southeast in Dutch and traces of Dutch can be found in place movable cultural property, monuments and sites (Blake, Asia, India, Africa, and the Middle East. Cosmopolitan names. During WWII, the Japanese took over the 2009: 45-46). It has also offered some protection for the settlements sprung up around the coastal areas of the country. The Japanese did not leave much of a trace endangered languages of small indigenous communities South China Sea, Java Sea and Malacca Strait. These linguistically. Today, global English dominates and is and their oral traditions, arts, social practices and coastal ports were the hubs of the trade networks permeating many aspects of modern life, including place traditions. All of these are part of their intangible connecting islands and continents from as early as the names. cultural heritage and relevant to toponymy (Marrie, first century. Over time, the region submitted to the 2009: 169-170). unifying force of a series of kingdoms. Since its independence in 1945, the country has a Among these kingdoms were the Hindu-Buddhist language policy that promotes a single unifying 25.3 History of Indonesia as an Archipelagic and Srivijaya (600-1290 AD) which controlled the trading language, the national language Indonesian (Bahasa Multicultural Nation routes of the Malacca Strait and Java Sea and the Indonesia) but which also supports the maintenance and Majapahit kingdom which was founded in Java and preservation of the regional indigenous languages. While The peopling of the archipelago, the arrival of modern lasted from the late 13th century to around 1500 and the worldwide trend for indigenous languages is the day humans, got underway 50,000 years ago. The territory extended from the southern Malay Peninsula, existential threat from globalization and modernity, descendants of these early people are today mostly to Borneo, Sumatra and Bali. leading to loss of speakers of small languages, local found in the east of the country. However, the majority The Indonesian archipelago was open to the inflows of languages in Indonesia still form part of the tapestry of of today’s population are descended from a group of new cultural influences. These were brought by the diversity that exists alongside the national language and people known as the Austronesians, whose homeland foreigners who stayed in coastal ports, and over time foreign languages. The language situation plays an was in Taiwan around 5,000 years ago (Bellwood et al., they were adopted, and spread. But they were also important part in the unique situation for place names in 2006). They possessed seafaring skills that allowed them absorbed, nurtured and transformed through contacts the country.